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Appellate Court Rules Boy Scouts Not Liable In Abuse Case

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut’s second-highest court has ruled that the Boy Scouts of America and a local council of the group aren’t liable for a former scouting leader’s sexual molestation of a boy.

The Appellate Court on Monday upheld a lower court ruling in favor of the national organization and the Connecticut Rivers Council chapter, which argued they couldn’t be held responsible for the abuse by former Tolland resident James W. Harris III.

The decision came in a lawsuit filed by a man who said Harris sexually abused him numerous times between 2001 and 2007, starting when he was a 10-year-old Cub Scout and after Harris became his stepfather.

Claims against Harris in the lawsuit remain pending.

Harris is serving a 15-year prison sentence for sexually abusing the boy and two other children.